Okay so I have looked over fair labor laws regarding tips and this is kind or specific. Unsure of the legality of this situation and wondered if anybody knows if this is legal or could point me on the right direction.
We are in Colorado. My husband works at a sort of fast-food restaurant. They pool tips and distribute them once a week amongst the crew. I was not aware of this policy, but apparently of you call out during that week on the same day as your shift, any day, they revoke your tips for the whole week and take you out of the pool.
He has serious stomach issues and was bleeding when he went to the bathroom one day last week. This is something that happens due to a medical condition, and he has no idea when it is going to flare up, and it likely flared up because of how hard they were working him and how stressed he was. He goes in today because they handed out tips yesterday and his manager says “you called in on a same-day shift last week so you were excluded from receiving tips.”
So I am pissed. He is the only one with an income right now, and we need every bit of money to pay bills we are behind on until I can get my situation figured out. I just don't understand how they can exclude someone for tips for the entire week for calling out one day. They still worked that week while tips were collected. It is a way to make workers afraid to call out, no matter how sick they are, because they won't receive extra compensation. Then it is a punishment because someone had to.
The managers aren't withholding tips from workers, they are just distributing them amongst the employees who worked all of their shifts that week and leaving out anyone who had to call off without 24+ hours notice. That's the only reason I could think it would be legal is management isn't receiving tips.